It’s understandably not as polished as the higher-priced Sentosa resorts but its Deluxe Room was decent and one of the lowest-priced stays on the island with resort grounds to boot.

• Median Room Price: SGD295^[1]

We don’t think the Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa is as polished as the Capella Singapore, the Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa, or Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, Singapore. But our rankings don’t take price into account. Its Deluxe Room tends to be one of the lowest-priced stays in our Sentosa rankings despite its separate bath and shower, the resort grounds, and multiple swimming pools.

• Last Stay: June 2017

We review anonymously and pay for everything. All opinions expressed here are our own and all information is correct as of our last stay or visit and subject to change without notice.

• Room size: 37-39m²

• Bedroom Rank: 8

• Click 360˚ button on the photo caption to view room!

With a “sleek and contemporary” style^[1], the Deluxe Room didn’t win many points from us for its boldness of aesthetics. Room sizes were 37-39m² — not especially large but more so than, say, the 31m² Superior Hill View Room at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, Singapore. The floor space for some rooms included a patio for rooms on the ground floor (like ours) or a balcony for higher floors. Its furnishings also went beyond the standard of just the bed, a TV bench, and a connecting work desk and chair. Our Deluxe Room also included a lounge chair for additional seating space while uninterrupted full-length mirrors ran along the wall from the room entrance. Even more unique was the wardrobe in the bedroom which also featured a door in the back for direct access from the bathroom.

We found the 32-inch TV small compared to other hotels we’ve reviewed. The number of channels on offer were also limited: just 26^[2], with only HBO for English movies and no pay-per-view or movie rental options.

The complimentary in-room coffee and tea selection was basic: Nescafe classic instant coffee and Twinings Tea. For more options, the (non-complimentary) in-room dining menu included wines by the bottle.

• Bathroom Rank: 5

• Bath: Separate bath and shower

• Toiletries: Amara

• Click 360˚ button on the photo caption to view room!

The bathroom wasn’t very large but managed to include a bath tub separate from the shower room. However, this left little space to partition a separate toilet room for privacy, leaving the toilet sitting next to the bathroom sink. The toiletries — lavender body wash and body lotion and lemongrass shampoo and conditioner — were in-house Amara products.

• Breakfast Rank: 9

• Breakfast Opening Hours: 7:00–10:30am

• Breakfast Price: SGD33^[1]

See our in-depth review and pictures of this breakfast buffet.

The breakfast buffet at the Shutters restaurant was relatively cheap compared to other hotels we’ve reviewed. While we weren’t surprised to conclude it wasn’t as good as some of the higher -priced breakfast buffets, we thought it wasn’t bad overall. Breakfast buffet dim sum tends to disappoint us but we found those served at Shutters surprisingly decent. We also liked the mee rebus, nasi lemak, ginseng chicken porridge, and the Korean tteokbokki mochi rice cakes.

• Last Review: October 2017

• Bar Rank: 10

• Bar Opening Hours: 3:00–12:00am

The Tier Bar comprised an outdoor bar and an indoor lounge with karaoke equipment and a pool table. We found the indoor lounge quite loud as the TV screens blasted music videos when no one was at the mic — probably not the best place for a conversation. It wasn’t as loud outside where the playlist tended towards pop music, though the ambience wasn’t particularly enticing either, as only a hedgerow separated the bar from the bus terminal next door. That said, we found its drinks relatively cheap compared to other hotel bars we’ve reviewed on Sentosa. We were impressed by how extensive the selection of drinks was — the vodka section alone contained 33 options, including the Chinggis Black from Mongolia. The cocktail menu also included a page of “Sanctuary signature cocktails”, some of which were unique and others riffs on popular international drinks, which should keep cocktail enthusiasts interested.

• Last Review: April 2018

The in-room dining impressed us with its quality. We enjoyed our New Zealand Pure South spring lamb rack which came juicy and fat atop a bed of ratatouille and burnt potato gratin. Just as juicy and fat was our roasted black cod done Japanese-style with braised daikon radishes, shimeji mushroom, baby bok choy, and a shoyu reduction.

We were less impressed by the breakfast service, which was a little more hit and miss. Our eggs Benedict were cooked right, yielding a pleasing ooze of yellow yolk as we cut into it. On the other hand, we found our pancakes only partly risen and not quite fluffy, it edges crusty. From the list of breakfast sets, we ordered the American breakfast set (a continental set was also available). We weren’t blown away: the scrambled eggs seemed a little dry.

• Hotel Grounds Rank: 4

The hotel provided a walking guide highlighting some of the more interesting features of its resort grounds. Set against a backdrop of waterfalls next to its Shutters restaurant was its Glass Pavilion. Housing transparent Louis Ghost chairs designed by Philippe Starck and an antique bell from the oldest chapel on Sentosa, the Amara notes that the Glass Pavilion is popular for weddings. We noticed it’s also popular with peacocks. The peacocks also seemed fond of the hotel’s herb garden, though we were unimpressed by the unkept state of the plants and poor labelling. Another popular peacock hangout was the two army barracks (Blocks 41 and 42) built in the 1920, now refashioned into the Courtyard and Verandah Suites. At their steps remained the sole cleaners which soldiers used to scrape the mud off their boot soles. The air raid shelters in front of the army barracks — actually used during World War 2 — were also retained and are open to the curious.

The hotel lobby offered complimentary snacks. A small selection of goods were also available for purchase.

• Pool Rank: 10

• Pool Opening Hours: 7:00am–8:00pm

The hotel’s website lists not one but four swimming pools on its grounds. However, this includes its Larkhill Terrace Pool which only Larkhill Terrace Suite guests can access. Still, that leaves three other pools, matching the Capella Singapore. Of these, the SkyPool^[1] on the fourth floor of the Sanctuary Block next to the lobby seemed the most popular during our stay. Not only was it just steps away for Deluxe Room guests — who were all housed in the Sanctuary Block — it was also an infinity pool with a sea view. It also wasn’t very large and could get crowded, especially around sunset. There was also a jacuzzi pool next to the infinity pool — however, it was still shut for maintenance at our last visit.

The DreamPool was much larger but required a bit more of a walk from the Sanctuary Block and, of course, isn’t an infinity pool with a sea view. Still, it tended to be quieter, was large enough for laps, and was set amid trees with a waterfall — a great pool for relaxing and working out, in our experience. There was also a bar at the Dream Pool though it never seemed to be open whenever we visited. We were less enthusiastic however about the adjacent Children Pool. While it did have a water slide, it felt too quiet, enclosed as it was by trees which tended to shed their leaves into the pool — not a great look.

• Gym Rank: 3

• Gym Opening Hours: 24 hours

The hotel didn’t operate its own gym — Aileron Wellness ran the boutique gym on its premises. The hotel’s guests could access the 24-hour gym, though some of the equipment was reserved for Aileron Wellness clients. Bright and airy, it was the largest gym we’ve seen in terms of floor space. It was also one of the better equipped gyms, with some unusual equipment like Power Plate vibration platforms and a TechnoGym Cardio Wave.

• Spa Opening Hours: 10:00am–10:00pm

The hotel didn’t run Spa Luna a floor below the Aileron Wellness gym either. A 60-minute relaxation Swedish massage cost SGD162^[2]. A treatment also provided access to the spa’s steam rooms. It wasn’t complimentary for hotel guests without a treatment, though there was the option of purchasing access. However, it cost a whopping SGD59^[3] per entry — three times the SGD18^[4] for the steam rooms and jacuzzis at CHI, the Spa at Shangri-La on Sentosa without a treatment.

Address

1 Larkhill Road, Sentosa Island, Singapore 099394

Phone

+65 6825 3888

Website

https://sentosa.amarahotels.com/